To the Ones Becoming

This past week I had a lot of things on my mind to write about, all thanks to being able to sit with my thoughts, not multitask, and reducing screen time at night (although this was just like 3 days out of the 7 days this week). One of them is how being intentional will always move one forward. Structure is important, but intentionality rules it all. Nine weeks into my 12-week year, and this is just my conclusion. Reading my Bible and book for the month in transit. Waking up by 4:30 a.m. to read my Bible before my 5 to 6 prayer. Going to bed after night prayers and not scrolling on social media even though I badly want to. I think unconsciously sacrificing my social life for my goals should make this list because really all I think about each day is getting my non-negotiables done and not letting anything or anyone disrupt my plans. I am just trying to say that intentionality is one trait anyone who wants to do a lot of things outside their comfort zone must prioritize. Intentionality ...

"Love People the Way They Want to Be Loved." I learned that thoroughly this week. I have always known this, but this week I realized that knowing is one thing. Doing is another. I have a dear sister. She is a people person. I am not. She likes to go all out for people and would appreciate you doing the same for her. Me, I no too send. She honours and serves people with presence. I mean she will be there. Just like the Yoruba people do the ajosepo thing. If it is the wedding of a sister or a friend, she will travel thousands of miles. She will do souvenirs. She will show up fully. That is the kind of person my sister is. I am entirely different. I know it is a special day, but somewhere at the bottom of my mind I would think, it is just another Friday. Because that is how I now see special days in my own life. I was not always like this. I used to be the type that stayed up till 12 am so I could be the first to wish a friend happy birthday. Suddenly, I became the type that f...

I realized I have no respect for time… or maybe it’s overconfidence. Yes, I have a very busy life (though a productive one). "Almost everyone does, Juliana, lol" Me: I know and that is why I am here writing about this. I know not all high achievers or ambitious people give 19 waking hours to tasks without white spaces or buffers. This busy life is structured. Very structured. Meaning, I know what I want to do each day. The problem is when to do it. I struggle with scheduling. Some days, I’m busy from 4:30 AM to midnight. That’s not sustainable, and I feel it. I’ve said this countless times: I crave depth. I know and have seen what it can do for me. The more focus I give something, the quicker I can finish it. But I’m still learning to be a person of depth, still recovering from social media attention drain, though I occasionally relapse.  Right now, gathering all my attention on one task takes time. And yes, it drains me. Some days, I feel my willpower is about to run out. St...

Just Start. I honestly wish I could write only that and call it a wrap, because truly, it is not more, not less. Just start. We have all heard this phrase countless times. And I think that is exactly why I am writing about it today. Sometimes, when something is repeated too often, we begin to lose its weight. Especially when people we don’t trust or don’t think know what they are saying keep saying it. But I’ve realized something. The fact that a word or phrase is repeated by everyone does not and will never undermine its meaning. I know this because I have seen so many phrases we dismiss as “motivational talk” work powerfully in my own life, once I actually practice them. One of them is: just start. Just start clueless. Just start uncertain. Just start full of doubt. Just start not ready. Just start afraid. Just start . We are 53 days into the year. I found myself thinking that if I hadn’t started the things I began on January 1st, these 53 days would still have passed, but they w...

The year is getting busier. I must say. This week, I struggled to tick off everything on my list. I thought I had a structure in place. (Screams.😂) But the good thing is this: I actually do have a structure. And if I didn’t, with how busy the week became, I would have faltered. I would have failed, woefully, not positively, and maybe even given up. But I prevailed. So many things tugged at my attention. So many small urgencies tried to scatter me. But I prevailed. And it’s too late to give up now. If you haven’t taken one lesson from all the reflections I’ve written so far, let this be the one: Structure will save your life. It will guard and shield you. This week showed me something important. The year is getting busier. So my structure cannot remain fragile. It has to evolve. For example, with my community, I currently facilitate a weekly finance-focused check-in. That is good. It helps the community grow. But I realized something: I can speed up growth by being more intentional ab...

I turned a new age on Monday, and I am happy about it. I don’t exactly know how I feel, but I know I am happy. I’ve been thinking a lot about my 20s, especially after reading Oladimeji Ajegbile’s reflection on Substack about how our 20s won’t last forever, how they are for building, proving, urgency, and showing up publicly while pretending not to be afraid. How they are for building habits that don’t disappear overnight. That last part is where my focus lies today: habits that don’t disappear overnight. First, I want to say this plainly, building good habits is hard. (This is my personal, unstable philosophy, lol.) Building bad habits, on the other hand, is one of the easiest things on earth. I once read about how the brain works when it comes to habits. When the brain discovers that a habit makes us happy, relaxed, or comfortable, it encourages it. But when it discovers that a habit makes us tired, worried, or stretched, it tries, out of its own version of goodwill, to protect us fro...